Everyday Creative, Creative Every Day

Entries Tagged as: goodies

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with the lovely, Silky Hart, an Expressive Arts therapist who I've come to know (and adore!) through blogging. You can listen to our chat here by clicking on the link below or right-click (ctrl-click on a Mac) to save to your computer.

I was curious about some of the ways you might use Expressive Arts to explore the theme of stories and Silky had some fabulous examples of how it could be utilized, using work such as Playback Theater and the Five Rhythms. As another example of using her work to explore stories, Silky is generously offering a gorgeous, free pdf workbook, "Writing the New Story of Your Life: A story writing playbook to awaken who you really are." Wow, I've taken a look at it, and it's awesome! Definitely a fabulously creative way to play with your stories and work on creating new ones.

Hooray! My 2010 Calendars are ready for pre-order! I announced this earlier on Twitter and in my newsletter, but realized when Havi mentioned my calendar in her Item post today, that I hadn't posted about them here yet!

I do these in limited quantities and they did sell out last year, so scoop one up soon. The calendar features 12 pieces of my artwork, one painting for each month. The calendar is about 11"x17" when open. See below for the back of the calendar which shows thumbnails of the 12 featured art pieces.

Special bonus! If you pre-order the calendar by November 30th, let me know your birthday and I'll add a personal drawing on your special day in the calendar! (Or if you'd prefer, I could do a drawing on another special day, like an anniversary.) You can email me your birthday after purchasing or write it in the message to seller box in paypal. Pre-ordered calendars will be sent out in early December.

And now back to your regularly scheduled art-every-day-monthing goodness!

Firstly, I've got some gorgeous new greeting cards for sale in my art shop. They're lovely. Right now there are three to choose from and you can purchase one or save money by buying them in a set. Checkity, check them out right here.

Secondly, time is absolutely flying by and it's nearly time for another Art Picnic Teleclass! The next one is happening Saturday, August 22nd from 1-3 pm Eastern time. This is a great opportunity to schedule in some creative time for yourself and learn some tips and tools to help you get going when you're feeling stuck with your art.

Third, I'm super excited about making my second appearance on the Connie's fabulous Creative Juicy Life radio show this Sunday at 6pm EST. I'll be on with my pal, Jennifer Lee to talk about living the creative life and our upcoming Creative Play Workshop, which is taking place in the Boston area on September 19th. If you can't listen into the call live, you'll be able to hear a recording of the call here. EDIT: Due to technical difficulties, the radio show was canceled and rescheduled for Sunday, September 6th at 6pm EST.

The Creative Play Workshop is going to be a blast. Lots of giggling, creating, and mess-making will be happening and we'd love to see you there! There's an early bird price for this workshop through August 31st and space is limited, so be sure to scoop up your spot here.

Lastly, I've been doing lots of tedious, behind the scenes kind of work this week and haven't had as much time as to get around to see all your fabulous work. I plan on doing some blog-hopping on Sunday though! Tomorrow the hubster and I are going to do some measuring at the new house for things like curtains and blinds. Weird. We've been living in this bachelor pad type apartment for so long, it's going to be quite a switch to do things like actually decorate!

Special Discount! On May 1st I will be raising prices on my framed prints and original artwork in my online shop, Blue Tree Art Gallery. I let my newsletter subscribers know a few weeks ago and gave them a coupon for 20% off any purchase through May 1st. (You can sign up for my art newsletter here and be entered into a monthly drawing for a free print! Sign up form is in the lower left corner.)

Well, I really wanted to extend a special thank you to my readers here, so I'm going to share the coupon code here too. Feel free to use it for 20% off anything in my art store from now until May 1st. If you've been thinking about grabbing something, now's the time to do it before I bump the prices up!

Here's the code! springsale09

Feel free to share the coupon or pass on a link to this post!!

Framed prints (in a 16"x20" wooden frame) are currently $100 and with the coupon code they're only $80! Total steal. Above, you can check out a couple examples of what a couple freshly framed prints look like. (Prints pictured above: Bring Love and Lighthouse.) And below, here's one of my newer prints, Key to Winter, framed and hanging on my studio wall.

Lovely Linkage

O.k., I've also got this build up of fabulous stuff to share, so let's just get to it, shall we?

*Rebecca at Difference a Year Makes posted a video of artist, Jonas Gerard that is so fabulous I just had to share it with you. I've seen his videos before and loved the joy with which he works, but I think his style also is a fabulous illustration of the kind of intuitive painting I'm doing in the class I'm taking and it also reminds me of the methods I use in the Art Picnic class. It's all about permission, freedom, and connecting with your intuition. And I also loves how it ties in with the color theme this month, both in how rich and gorgeous his use of color is and also in how he talks about how he chooses his colors and how colors each have their own "vibe." So true! So, do check it out and enjoy the music that goes along with it. And if you're interested in seeing more of Gerard's videos head over here.

* Sometime around the New Year, I stumbled upon the blog of Havi Brooks and quickly became a huge fan of her work. Her writing is honest, deep, and yet accessible. I love how she teaches about both the hard (business biggifying) and the soft (working on your patterns.) She combines this kind of work in a way that really resonates for me. Check out her blog and then check out all the fabulous resouces she offers on her site.

* Celebrating crafting failures, the blog CraftFail cracked me up and made me feel a whole lot better about my many crafting blunders.

* The super sweet, Kathryn Antyr (Collage Diva) has a fabulous new blog called True North, which explores finding your direction through art-making. Love it! She's created a really cool Personal Map Making contest with loads of cool prizes. Check out all the details here.

Are you looking to experience a gremlin-quieting, art-making, creative-block-busting good time?

Yes, you say? Well, then I'd like to invite you to join me on an Art Picnic adventure, this Saturday, April 25th from 1 - 3 pm E.S.T. for only $25! (Find out what time that is in your area here.)

On an Art Picnic you will:

* Get grounded and connect with your intuition.

* Let go and get playful with your art.

* Get creative support from me to help you unblock and create freely.

* Have a blast creating your own, unique Art Picnic experience!

* Leave with all the tools you need to continue creating your own Art Picnics.

* Take excellent care of yourself by scheduling in some all-important creativity time.

I started Art Picnics out of a need to get unstuck creatively in a fun, no-pressure way. I was frozen in the fear of not being good enough and all the inner critic voices were keeping me from enjoying my creativity.

With a few simple tools, which I'll share with you in this class, I learned how to move beyond my fears and create from a place of joy, freedom, and authenticity.

The class takes place on the phone, so you can attend from wherever you are! During the first half hour, we will meet, discuss the tools you need to get started, and do a grounding exercise. We will then get off the phone and have our individual art picnic experiences. I will be playing and creating too, but I will also stay on the bridge line, so if you get stuck, you can call in and I will help you through it. In the final half hour, we will meet to discuss what we created, share what came up for us, and learn some tools to keep our creative energy flowing.

You do not need to consider yourself an artist to join in, everyone is welcome. You don't need loads of art supplies either. I enjoyed my first art picnic with just a blanket to sit on, some paper, magazines, and a glue stick. Simply bring whatever art, craft, or journaling supplies you have available and be prepared to have fun!

*As a special bonus, if you sign up for your Saturday's Art Picnic, I will send you a free mp3 recording of a grounding exercise I use that will help you get connected with your intuition before you start creating!

I am so excited to share this process with you, so sign up here and join me on Saturday for some Art Picnic fun!! Sign up by clicking the Add to cart button below:

I have some new artwork available in my online store, Blue Tree Art Gallery. These pieces were created late in 2008 and it usually takes a little time to get them ready to sell because I like to offer prints as well. Well, they're ready to go and I'm super excited to offer these new pieces! I have the original and prints available for At Sea (above), Ophelia (below), Key to Winter and you can also buy my 2009 calendar on the website!

I'm also excited to share some awesome creative resources with you!

I just listened in on this fabulous teleseminar with Lisa Sonora Beam, author of The Creative Entrepreneur. The call was recorded and you can listen to it here, right now! I purchased Lisa's book recently and it's really gorgeous. I seem to be reading so much lately about business aligned with your heart (which I love!) and this book fits right in with this idea.

Another creative dynamo who writes about business with heart is, Tara Joyce, who blogs at the Innerpreneur. Lots of great things to check out there.

I'm all abuzz with creative energy this week. Ideas are flowing and I'm working on a few different pieces. I'll be able to share those with you soon. In the meantime, I hope you are all having fun playing! I'll be announcing next month's theme around the 21st of the month.

If I were a cat, that would be me over the last few days, under the covers like my cute Sadie. My head feels better resting as it is heavy with mucus. Gross! O.k., I'm going to try not to to get into the less than pretty details of my cold. My bff reminded me today that it's been awhile since I've been sick and that's quite true! I used to get colds far too often and it's been a long time, so I'm pleased that it's been a long stretch in between. Hopefully, this cold will pass quickly.

I managed to get out to the grocery store which was not so fun, but I had a craving for butternut squash and I needed tissues, so I went out and it was quite nice out. I also got some beautiful new art postcards in the mail and I'll be sending one out to everyone who orders a calendar. They feature the Lady of the Lake painting and have lovely rounded corners which I'm just loving at the moment.

I'm wishing I felt better because I'm bursting with ideas, just low on energy. Re-thinking the Creative Every Day Challenge has me super excited and I know it will be a great year, full of creativity and great connections, inspiration and lots of fun. And PLAY! Yes, play. More on that later.

Perhaps this cold is my body's way of telling me to take a little rest after the rush of AEDM. It can be hard to relax this time of year. Despite the fact that I feel like the holidays are about family and not the gifts, it can be stressful thinking about how to handle gifts, especially in a large family. And all the travel and family time, while wonderful, can be draining for my introverted self. How do you make the holidays a fun and relaxing time? I totally love this fabric advent calendar that my bff created. She had family members create items to put in the little pockets by having them draw on shrinky dink plastic. What a cool idea!! I love to see crafts that families can work on together. Although this isn't a holiday piece, how amazing is this family-decorated IKEA chair from Our Artful Life?! Love it! And if you're looking for something eco-friendly, check out this diy re-cycled shopping bag turned into a bow on Creature Comforts! The Tar-jay bag makes for a great Christmas-y decoration too.

There are so many great holiday crafts out there. I'm particularly drawn to garlands made from paper or felt at the moment. How bout you?

Even though I had to wait a ridiculously long time in line, it was so worth it to be able to pick up my b-day gift from the hubster. In fact, I'm posting on it right now! I'm impressed so far with the new iPhone.

I've been working diligently on the painting of Ophelia, which has been keeping me quite busy. I'll post new pics of it soon.

This afternoon, I dropped off a whole bunch of art at Oak, a new store in Boston. It's in such a great location, on Gloucester Street right off Newbury Street (prime time shopping area.) I got to meet Keara, the owner, at the shop and she was super sweet. I love the way she had her shop set up, it had a very cool vibe to it, lots of great stuff with out being stuffy, if you know what I mean. I knew the store was all about handmade crafts, but I didn't realize the name, Oak, came from their theme of "one of a kind" items. Too cool! At any rate, if you're in the area, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. It was a gloomy day today in Boston, but the weekend is supposed to be beautiful. I bet it'd be great for doing some shopping and people watching in the Back Bay neighborhood. If you can't get to the shop, Keara has some of the store's items for sale online too. Check it out here.

After the trip into town and watching my brother overnight last night, I'm zonked and have a headache. Business has been great this week and I'm thrilled about that. I'll be able to relax and have some extra spending cash for thrifting this weekend!

- Another friend, Melba has been working away on her own self-published book, Creating in the Midst which you can pick up here. Melba is planning to lead a group through the 12 week process this summer. Congrats, Melba on all your hard work coming to fruition!

- With all this business talk, it feels relevant to mention the slow economy and its effect on artists and craftspeople. I've felt some effect, but I'm not really a big enough business at this point to be taking a major hit. It doesn't have to be all negative though. A downturn in the economy can mean a time to explore other avenues or beef up your business in other ways. I enjoyed reading this article from craft:boom (cool site, by the way!) about running your craft business when times are lean. I think it applies to any small business. And after you read that, check out the rest of the site for interviews with inspiring business women like Amy Butler.

- Speaking of Amy Butler, Holly at Decor8 is hosting a mood board contest with the opportunity to win great Amy Butler related prizes. Check out all the details here. Even if you don't participate, check in after the due date to see all the amazing creations people put together!

Check it out! Today, I'm the guest editor of a special Etsy-themed Fab 5 Friday at Rare Bird Finds! I got to highlight five products on Etsy that I think are cool. It was super hard to pick just five.

I've loved checking out the selections at Rare Bird Finds, so it's especially fun to get to participate. Go see the fabulous etsy items I picked out and while you're over at etsy, check out the selection of prints I've got for sale here.